Elizabeth Cheney, Bush Legal Counsel

[malaise]

http://www.slate.com/id/2210084/
<snip>
In 1988, while Dick Cheney was Wyoming's sole representative in the House of Representatives, his daughter's senior thesis was quietly published in Colorado Springs. The 125-page treatise argued that, constitutionally and historically, presidents have virtually unchecked powers in war. Thirteen years before her father became vice president, she had symbolically authored the first legal memorandum of the Bush administration, laying out the same arguments that would eventually justify Guantanamo and extraordinary rendition, wiretapping of American citizens, and, broadly, the unitary theory of the executive that shaped the Bush presidency.

From beginning to end, it's clear that Cheney looks upon the model of the powerful executive approvingly. Her most forceful conclusion is that the Founders "certainly did not intend, nor does history substantiate, the idea that Congress should legislate specific limits on the President's power." To ensure American security, it needs to recognize that the "nature of military and foreign policy demand the 'unity of a singular Executive.' "

One cannot help but see echoes of this conclusion in the administration in which her father was so influential. The Bush White House repeatedly embraced the philosophy of acting first and asking for approval later, especially on issues that involved the power of the purse. They embraced a position that Cheney found repeatedly in history: "The president's duty to protect national security sometimes come before his responsibility to keep Congress informed."

For Cheney, apparently, the Constitution and rule of law are no more of a check on this unitary power than Congress. During the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln's suspension of habeas corpus and imposition of military tribunals present no legal dilemma to her. "To assert that the Constitution is a shield of protection 'for all classes of men, at all times and under all circumstances,' " she writes, "is to deny the nation the right of self-preservation. There have been and will be times in the experience of the country when constitutional provisions will of necessity be suspended to guarantee the survival of our democracy." The Supreme Court's chief justice was wrong in declaring his actions illegal in Ex Parte Merryman because his power "was actually an assertion of the power of the people."* How he divined that will of the people, Cheney does not explain.
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So did daddy write the thesis?

[bluestateguy]

1. Good. I look forward to her defending President Obama's unlimited wartime powers

n t

[SpiralHawk]

2. "I am a war pResident. Smirk." - Commander AWOL (R)

"And my cabal 'O corrupt chickenhawk republicon homelander cronies are all, like, really tough War Guys 'n stuff, too. Smirk."

- Commander AWOL (R)

[malaise]

4. I love that graphic

Palin may have to fight with Cheney for the leadership or maybe she was her advisor. :rofl:

[Solly Mack]

3. K&R

"For someone who has vested so much faith in executive wisdom, she is surprisingly unwilling to hold it accountable."

Actually - There's absolutely nothing surprising about her being "unwilling to hold it accountable"

All the power without any of the responsibility/accountability...Bush/Cheney to a tee

[midnight]

5. So, to accept Elizabeth Cheney's mindset of preservation rights,

means that the constitution and the rule of law must be subordinate? This is probably why, for the last eight years, the republicans refereed to the constitution as an old piece of paper.

[malaise]

6. Isn't this mindblowing

My questions are did she write daddy's opinion or hers, and who was the professor who bought this bullshit.

[DCKit]

7. Someone who's never read any of the brilliant writings of the founding fathers.

Jefferson and Paine would have had her tied to a tree and horsewhipped for criminal, willful ignorance.

[BrklynLiberal]

8. and many would have watched and appluaded.